xxiv, 374 pages : 20 cm

The Battle of Dybbøl, 1864. Prussian troops lay siege to an outpost in the far south of Denmark. The conflict is over control of the Duchy of Schleswig, recently annexed by Denmark to the alarm of its largely German-speaking inhabitants. Danish troops make a valiant attempt to hold out but are overrun by the might of the Prussian onslaught. Of little strategic importance, the struggle for Schleswig foreshadowed the same forces that, fifty years later, would tear Europe apart. Prussia's victory would not only rejuvenate its nascent militarism, but help it claim leadership of the new German Empire. Told in rich detail through first-hand accounts, Tom Buk-Swienty's magisterial account of the Schleswig conflict tells the story of this pivotal war. 1864 shows how a minor regional conflict foreshadowed the course of diplomacy that led to the First World War and brutally presaged the industrialised future of warfare. But most of all, in its human detail, from touching letters between husbands and wives to heartbreaking individual stories of loss, 1864 is a gripping, epic human drama that shows the effect all wars have on the soldiers, on families and on the individual men and women who must live its realities

Includes bibliographical references and index

Machine generated contents note: pt. One The Day Before -- 1. Sunday, 17 April 1864 -- 2. The chosen one -- 3. The battle plan -- 4. The butcher's block -- 5. The ironclad warship -- 6. The war correspondent -- 7. The ailing general -- 8. The Red Cross delegate -- 9. On the front -- 10. The last letter -- 11. The changing of the guards -- 12. The doomed -- pt. Two The Road to Dybbøl -- 13. Les jeux sont faits -- 14. The Baltic powder keg -- 15. The Iron Chancellor -- 16. The king is dead -- 17. Thyra's Fortress -- 18. The first days -- 19. The funeral procession -- 20. Sankelmark -- 21. The scapegoat -- pt. Three The Siege -- 22. Bloodshed -- 23. The bombardment -- 24. Seven long days -- 25. Night -- 26.18 April 1864 -- 27. The left flank -- 28. Counter-attack -- 29. Burning bridges -- 30. The dead -- 31. The dying -- 32. The prisoners -- 33. Berlin -- 34. The ghost ship

Now a major TV drama.-Includes bibliographical references and index.-Machine generated contents note: pt. One The Day Before -- 1. Sunday, 17 April 1864 -- 2. The chosen one -- 3. The battle plan -- 4. The butcher's block -- 5. The ironclad warship -- 6. The war correspondent -- 7. The ailing general -- 8. The Red Cross delegate -- 9. On the front -- 10. The last letter -- 11. The changing of the guards -- 12. The doomed -- pt. Two The Road to Dybbøl -- 13. Les jeux sont faits -- 14. The Baltic powder keg -- 15. The Iron Chancellor -- 16. The king is dead -- 17. Thyra's Fortress -- 18. The first days -- 19. The funeral procession -- 20. Sankelmark -- 21. The scapegoat -- pt. Three The Siege -- 22. Bloodshed -- 23. The bombardment -- 24. Seven long days -- 25. Night -- 26.18 April 1864 -- 27. The left flank -- 28. Counter-attack -- 29. Burning bridges -- 30. The dead -- 31. The dying -- 32. The prisoners -- 33. Berlin -- 34. The ghost ship.-The Battle of Dybbol, 1864. Prussian troops lay siege to an outpost in the far south of Denmark. The conflict is over control of the Duchy of Schleswig, recently annexed by Denmark to the alarm of its largely German-speaking inhabitants. Danish troops make a valiant attempt to hold out but are overrun by the might of the Prussian onslaught. Of little strategic importance, the struggle for Schleswig foreshadowed the same forces that, fifty years later, would tear Europe apart. Prussia's victory would not only rejuvenate its nascent militarism, but help it claim leadership of the new German Empire. Told in rich detail through first-hand accounts, Tom Buk-Swienty's magisterial account of the Schleswig conflict tells the story of this pivotal war. 1864 shows how a minor regional conflict foreshadowed the course of diplomacy that led to the First World War and brutally presaged the industrialised future of warfare. But most of all, in its human detail, from touching letters between husbands and wives to heartbreaking individual stories of loss, 1864 is a gripping, epic human drama that shows the effect all wars have on the soldiers, on families and on the individual men and women who must live its realities.0Translated by Annette Buk-Swienty

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